8 Stephen Willeford, alerted by his daughter who heard gunshots, raced to the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs on Sunday to engage the gunman with what authorities described as an “AR 15 assault rifle.” Willeford’s action likely saved lives.

9 Since the Columbine school shootings that killed 13 and shocked the nation in April 1999, there have been six shootings in the U.S. that have been worse. It’s not even in the top 10 among mass shootings anymore.

10 According to The New York Times, at least 9 gunmen in 18 recent mass shootings had criminal histories or documented health problems that did not prevent them from legally obtaining their weapons.

11 Devin Kelley, the Sutherland Springs gunman, was convicted of assaulting his wife and cracking his infant stepson’s skull in 2012 and received a “bad conduct” discharge from the Air Force. He passed a federal background check twice in 2016 and 2017 to buy firearms.

12 In the previous administration, the Social Security Administration issued a rule that stepped up its efforts to pass the names of those who did not have the mental capacity to “manage his or her own affairs” to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which determines those who can legally buy a gun. President Trump and Congress rescinded that rule on the grounds that it was overly broad.

13 A study by the American Journal of Public Health found that databases that track gun homicides show that less than 5 percent of 120,000 gun-related killings in America between 2001 and 2010 were committed by people with a diagnosed mental illness.

14 From 1996 to 2012, there were 90 mass shootings in the U.S., with a mass shooting defined as four or more deaths that were not gang- or family-related. That was nearly 33 percent of the 292 such attacks in the world.

15 The U.S. has 5 percent of the world’s population and more than 30 percent of the mass shootings. After the U.S. total of 90, the next-highest was the Philippines. The number? 18.

16 Does the violent city of Chicago have the country’s strictest gun laws? Not since 2010. That’s when the Supreme Court struck down a ban against having a handgun in a Chicago home. In 2013, the Illinois General Assembly passed a law to allow for concealed carry. People in Chicago today can walk the streets with a gun strapped to their waist and one at their ankle if they desire.

17 PolitiFact, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, quoted calculations from the Center for Responsive Politics’ database on the National Rifle Association’s contributions to candidates, parties and political action committees between 1998 and 2016. It was approximately $13 million, not overly high.

But, during the same period, the NRA spent $144.3 million on “independent expenditures” — efforts “expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate.” In addition, the NRA has reported spending a cumulative $45.9 million on federal lobbying, both for in-house operations and outside consultants. Grand total the NRA has spent on political activities since 1998: $203.2 million.

18 The Center for Homicide Research, on a study of church shootings from 1980 to 2015, found that 48 percent of the shooters were affiliated with the church, 23 percent had a spouse or boyfriend/girlfriend at the church, 17 percent felt rejected by the church, and 12 percent were mentally ill.

19 Americans, with 5 percent of the world’s population, own 48 percent of the approximately 650 million civilian-owned guns worldwide, according to the Congressional Research Service.

20 According to a Gallup poll in 2013, 25 percent of all Americans own guns, and 3 percent of the population owns half the guns in this country.

Opinion

Interpret these facts as you wish. But there is an outbreak of gun violence that has gone on for decades that is uniquely American. No other country has an outbreak of this magnitude. Have you ever honestly asked yourself, “Why?”

Somewhere, there are changes that could possibly lessen this while not infringing on lawful gun owners who want to bear arms. Maybe it’s eliminating the killing machines of semi-automatic weapons or tightening background checks, or implementing other changes on a trial basis.

But, as I said a month ago, there’s misunderstanding on both sides, but we can’t even have a rational discussion about guns in this country. In fact, we can’t even have a discussion about the possibility of a discussion.

This much I do know — and this is part opinion and part fact — a year from now, there won’t be one thing that will change. You know it and I know it.

Not. One. Thing.

Jon Mark Beilue is an AGN Media columnist. He can be reached at jon.beilue@
amarillo.com or 806-345-3318. Twitter:
@jonmarkbeilue.